Wachovia Center

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT WACHOVIA CENTER - PAGE 5

Oh, the weather outside was nippy, and the mood inside was chippy. They were ready to drop the gloves ... let them throw, let them throw, let them throw. The Panthers did just that, fighting the Flyers three times in the first period, with captain Bryan McCabe taking on Mike Richards, the player responsible for the hostility that had been brewing for two months. Once the Panthers exacted a measure of revenge for Richards' concussion-causing hit on David Booth when the teams last played Oct. 24, they took care of other business - winning.

By Ethan J. Skolnick and South Florida Sun Sentinel, February 16, 2010

On this night, the Miami Heat didn't need Amare Stoudemire. It didn't even need the best of Dwyane Wade, which the basketball world got to see two nights earlier in Dallas at the NBA All-Star Game. All it needed was what the schedule served up: A listless, disorganized Philadelphia 76ers squad. "Yeah, we'll take it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Tuesday's 105-78 victory at Wachovia Center, which lifted his team back to .500 (27-27) entering tonight's game at the New Jersey Nets.

Normally this was the time for Dwyane Wade to attack the rim, make some jump shots, corral some steals and lift the Heat to victory. But these weren't normal circumstances for Wade and the Heat on Sunday. Less than 24 hours after Wade's near triple-double sent the Heat to a triple-overtime victory against the Utah Jazz, the Heat took on the high-energy Philadelphia 76ers at the Wachovia Center. Despite its banged-up bodies and tired legs, the Heat managed to take a lead into the fourth quarter.

Alonzo Mourning's hold on the Heat's all-time scoring lead lasted less than two years. With the 21st of his 50 points in Saturday's 140-129 triple-overtime victory over the Jazz, guard Dwyane Wade supplanted Mourning as the franchise's all-time scoring leader. He ended the game with 9,489 career points. Wade, in his sixth season, moved to the top of the franchise's scoring list in his 380th career game. It took Mourning 593 games over his 11 seasons with the Heat to bypass Glen Rice's previous franchise record.

The playoff defense will arrive this weekend. At least that's what the Miami Heat hopes. In a game unlikely to resemble anything the Heat experiences in the postseason, offense ruled the night in Monday's 107-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at Wachovia Center, a game decided on a 14-foot Udonis Haslem jumper with 1.3 seconds to play. "Tonight was not necessarily a coach's game," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Our defense was not up to our normal standard. "But we hung around enough.

The Panthers were in position for a momentous win against the defending Stanley Cup champions. But the two-goal lead with a period to play turned out to be a lost opportunity. Penguins star Sidney Crosby scored twice in the third, including his first short-handed goal to tie it with 3:19 left. He then scored the only goal in the shootout to hand the Panthers a 3-2 loss Friday at Mellon Arena. The Panthers fell to 2-5-1. "At this point we've given a lot of opportunities away," defenseman Keith Ballard said.

Former Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon, architect of the team that had a chance Wednesday to move within one victory of winning the Stanley Cup, said he's still rooting for them but wasn't sure how he would react while watching them in person for the first time. Tallon, demoted by the Blackhawks last summer to senior adviser of hockey operations and replaced by Stan Bowman, was appointed general manager of the Panthers two weeks ago. He was in town Wednesday to represent the Panthers at general managers' meetings, and he was among the few of his brethren who stayed to watch Game 3 at the Wachovia Center.

Four months into life without Shaquille O'Neal, Lakers owner Jerry Buss said he remains confident about his offseason decision to trade the center to the Heat. As for O'Neal, he doesn't want to hear about it. In an interview on Los Angeles radio station KMPC, Buss spoke about the departures of O'Neal and coach Phil Jackson and the decision to retain guard Kobe Bryant. "The feeling I had was that whole five-year situation with Phil and the disagreements between Kobe and Shaq, I think it had just run its course," Buss said.

A free one-year Costco Club membership awaits people joining or renewing their 2005 memberships with several small chambers in north Miami-Dade County. Chamber Services, a managerial company that oversees the North Dade Regional, Aventura, Biscayne Corridor, Opa-locka and Miami Gardens chambers, is offering the Costco card to anyone who signs up before Jan. 31. The trial promotion began in October, said Thelma Burns, communication specialist. About 20 people responded to the flier the chamber sent out. "We found out quite a few were very much interested," she said.

Panthers forward David Booth flew back to South Florida on Sunday after spending the previous night in a Philadelphia hospital because of a concussion. Booth suffered his first-ever concussion when Flyers center Mike Richards, skating full speed, drove his left shoulder into Booth's jaw late in the second period of the Panthers' 5-1 loss at Wachovia Center. The NHL decided not to suspend Richards for the hit Sunday, to the dismay of the Panthers, whose frustration over the incident was eased from learning Booth was feeling better.